Larry Levenson

Larry Levenson
Born1936
New York City, New York, U.S.
DiedJanuary 23, 1999 (aged 62–63)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Other nameThe King of Swing
OccupationsClub owner, swinger

Larry Levenson (1936 – January 23, 1999) was an American club owner who founded the swingers club Plato's Retreat.[1][2][3][4]

Biography

Levenson started working in the service industry but encountered the swinging life and found a new calling. He opened his first swingers club in a basement of a small hotel on East 23rd Street, and soon moved to The Ansonia, replacing the hotel's basement Continental Baths. His goal was to bring "to the straight world the liberty of the gay clubs."[4]

In 1980, he moved the club's location again to West 34th Street and announced his intention to create a chain of Plato's clubs.[4]

Levenson was sentenced to eight years in prison in 1981 for tax evasion.[5][6]

After the closing of Plato's Retreat, he worked as a cab driver.[2]

He died in 1999 after quadruple bypass heart surgery.[2][7]

Levenson was featured in the 2008 documentary American Swing.[8] Nicknamed the 'King of Swing', he claimed having sexual relations with 10 different women in one night,[8] and once won a bet against Al Goldstein that he could ejaculate fifteen times within a twenty-four-hour day.[9]

References

  1. ^ Goldstein, Gary (March 29, 2009). "The Swinging '70s: Retreating to Plato's". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Hart, Jon (September 22, 2002). "New York Observed; Fantasy Island". The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  3. ^ Bachrach, Judy (February 23, 1978). "The Romans Did It, and Now . . ". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c Hayden-Guest, Anthony (December 20, 2020). "Larry Levenson and Plato's Retreat, the Notorious Swingers' Club of NYC – The Founder of the 1970s Sex Club Is Remembered by an Occasional Visitor to His Establishment". Avenue. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  5. ^ "The City; Sex Club Owners Get 8-Year Terms". The New York Times. July 10, 1981. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  6. ^ "The City; Owners of Sex Club Indicted in Tax Case". The New York Times. February 6, 1981. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  7. ^ "Paid Notice: Deaths Levenson, Lawrence Larry King of Swing.". The New York Times. January 25, 1999.
  8. ^ a b Holden, Stephen (March 27, 2009). "Where the Action Was". The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2025.
  9. ^ Friedman, Josh Alan (1993) [1986]. "Pecker Full of Miracles". Tales of Times Square. Feral House. pp. 98–124.

Filmography


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